Written in the Stars
by cloudyazurephoenix
Summary: Scarlet Potter was not having a good day, especially when she returned home to find a one-eyed stranger standing in her apartment, telling her the world was in danger, and that she had been drafted for something called the "Avengers Initiative" - what? (Rest of the summary inside - it's too long...) Fem Harry
1. Summary

Written in the Stars - summary

Scarlet Potter was not having a good day, especially when she returned home to find a one-eyed stranger standing in her apartment, telling her the world was in danger, and that she had been drafted for something called the "Avengers Initiative" - what? Now in a world of super-humans, heroes and extraterrestrials - what had she gotten into now? Hermione was right, she was a magnet for trouble.


	2. Chapter 1 - It begins

**Oops, forgot to put on the disclaimer the first time! Well, here it is:**

 **I do not own either the Harry Potter series or Avengers films, they belong to the lovely JK Rowling and the workers at the Marvel Cinematic Studios. All rights belong to them, not me (sadly). I do not own anything recognisable, but anything you don't recognise that is mine.**

 **So without further ado, here is the first chapter of my new crossover Written in the Stars.**

Chapter 1 - It begins

At first there was nothing, only blackness, then out of the dark came a disembodied voice.

"In the beginning there was nothing. No light, no dark, no up, no down. Then out of the nothingness came light. From the endless void the nine realms sprung, and life came into being - spreading across the universe like wildfire. And on these planets came their inhabitants, forming from that first spark of life. From the Dark and Light Elves, to the Jotuns, to the Asgardians of the Shining Realm. Then finally, on a little realm called Midgard, (or as we know it, planet Earth), a species called the human race evolved from those early life forms over millions of years.

The years passed and man grew and discovered, from finding fire in its young days, to the wheel, to flight, to weapons that shocked the world with their potency. And then there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves untied against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born - to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand! Throughout the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, but their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then - Avengers Assemble!"

Suddenly bright blue flames erupt from the blackness, and a smoky cube emerged from the shadows, glowing with a fierce intensity.

Thousands of miles away, a tall imposing figure was knelt behind a throne.

"The Tesseract has awakened," he said in a deep, rumbling voice. "It is on a little world. A human world. They would wield its power..."

The Other, facing a horn shaped shadow, watched as Loki was handed a Chitauri sceptre. The sceptre had a long golden handle, fitted with a blue gem on its end, which glows with the same intense blue light the Tesseract does, encircled and held in place by silver blades.

"But our ally," the Other continued. "Knows it's workings as they never will. He is ready to lead. And our force, our Chitauri, will follow."

Out of the corners of his eyes, the Other looked over the seething mass of Chitauri, tens of thousands of them in neat rows and columns. Beneath his feet, the ground shook violently.

"The world will be his. The universe yours. And the humans, what can they do but burn?" The Other finished, a sinister tone to his voice as Loki smirked menacingly.

Down on planet Earth night reigned in the west. Most of America slept, yet in New Mexico a remote research facility was in a state of panic. All over the base people were evacuating as a large helicopter swooped down from above. Chaos reigned over the base as panic set in, and soldiers on foot quickly jumped into Humvees, before hastily speeding away from the base. Over the top of the din, a voice boomed over hidden loudspeakers.

Standing near to the helicopter pad, a balding man in dark shades and a sharp suit watched the helicopter as it landed. Agent Coulson continued to watch as the helicopter door opened and Agent Hill stepped out, a fierce determination set on her face. Following her, Director Fury climbed out of the helicopter and both of them approached Agent Coulson.

"How bad is it?" Fury asked.

"That's the problem, sir," Coulson replied. "We don't know."

Fury and Hill shared a look of concern and followed after Coulson as he headed back into the facility. Leading them through the radiation section, hundreds of other staff and technicians ran around, taking only the essentials with them before they fled from the room.

"Dr Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago," Coulson told them.

"NASA didn't authorise Selvig to test phase," Fury said, shooting Coulson a sharp look through his one good eye.

"He wasn't testing it," Coulson replied. "He wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement."

"It just turned itself on?" Hill said in disbelief - after all, the thing was an inanimate object, that shouldn't be possible. But then again...

"What are the energy levels now?" Fury questioned, remaining calm despite the risk of the situation.

"Climbing," Coulson answered grimly. "When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac."

"How long to get everyone out?" Fury asked him.

"Campus should be clear in the next half hour."

"Do it better," Fury demanded, and Coulson headed off to do so.

"Sir, evacuation may be futile," Hill put in, worry clear in her voice.

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?" Fury said to her.

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance," Hill told him pessimistically.

"I need you to make sure the Phase 2 prototypes are shipped out," Fury commanded, ignoring her pessimistic statement.

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?" She questioned, trying to mask her doubts about his priorities at the moment.

"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of Phase 2 on a truck and gone," Fury told her sternly.

"Yes, sir," Hill conceded, seeing that her boss wouldn't relent, before she turned to some of the other agents stood on the floor. "With me."

She gestured for them to follow her, and they turned off, heading to where the Phase 2 prototypes were being stored.

Entering the lab where the tests on the Tesseract were being held, he called out to Dr Selvig. "Talk to me, doctor."

Selvig appeared from behind some of the machinery, shooting concerned glances at the Tesseract, which was glowing unusually brightly, and pulses of energy fired off from it at random.

"Director," Selvig acknowledged Fury as the Director walked over to him.

"Is there anything we know for certain?" Fury asked.

"The Tesseract is misbehaving," Selvig replied.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury said, irritation clear in his tone and the look he gave Selvig.

"No, it's not funny at all," Selvig explained. "The Tesseract is not only active, she's... misbehaving."

"How soon until you pull the plug?" Fury questioned.

"She's an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..." Selvig trailed off, an element of worry breaking through his calm facade.

"We've prepared for this, doctor," Fury said. "Harnessing energy from space."

"We don't have the harness. Our calculations are far from complete. She's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation," Selvig said dismissively.

"That can be harmful," Fury frowned, thinking of the incident with Dr Banner at Culver University. That most certainly was harmful to all involved. "Where's Barton?"

"The Hawk? Up in his nest as usual," Selvig replied.

High above them, Agent Barton was stood leaning against the railings of the overhead catwalk, dressed in black tactical gear, watching as the staff cleared out below.

"Agent Barton report!" Fury calledover Barton's earpiece.

Barton repelled down from the catwalk and walked over to Fury, who motioned for him to walk with him as Selvig went back to working.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," Fury said to him quietly as they discretely walked around the lab.

"Well, I see better from a distance," Barton drawled, acting up to his codename, Hawkeye.

"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?" Fury questioned him as they both watch as one of the NASA scientists working with Selvig called out to him.

"Doctor, it's spiking again!"

"No one's come or gone. It's oven is clean. No contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end," Barton muttered to Fury.

Confused, Fury turned to face Barton. "At this end?"

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right?" Barton said, explaining his theory to the Director. "Doors open from both sides."

As they were talking, Selvig was typing away on his keyboard, when he saw something on the screen of his computer that made his eyes widen in horror. Suddenly, there was a gargantuan burst of energy from the Tesseract, making the entire facility shake and thunder. To Fury's dismay, both Coulson and Hill felt the quakes too, despite them being at entirely different ends of the facility. The Tesseract glowed even fiercer, and the flaring rings coming from the Tesseract got even more violent as they became brighter and louder. The force became so strong that a beam of energy surged down the machine holding the Tesseract in place, before firing out into midair. The wild maelstrom caused a vortex to appear in the middle of the room, which then collapsed in on itself, causing up a portal to rip open. The portal churned into a black hole, through which the vast entity of space could be seen, beautiful and mysterious, strewn with billions of stars, before a gust of blue energy burst from the portal, blinding everyone as it permeated the entire chamber, shrouding everything in the fog.

The chamber was eerily silent, but then all of a sudden, heavy breathing can be heard coming from the platform. S.H.I.E.L.D. guards cautiously approach the platform, weapons gripped tightly in their hands. As the smoke clears a figure is revealed kneeling on the platform, smoke uncurling from him, wearing gold and green armour, a giant horned helmet fastened to his head.

Loki.

Loki raised his head, smirking mischievously, although his smile faded as he took in the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the room. Looking deep into the eyes of Fury, Barton and Selvig, he stood up, the Chitauri sceptre clenched tightly in his hand.

"Sir, please put down the spear!" Fury called out to him, remaining where he was when the Tesseract opened the portal.

Loki looked down at his spear for a moment before he raised it and fired directly at where he and Barton were stood opposite him. The blast shot towards them, but Barton tackled Fury out of the way and they both barely avoided getting hit by it.

All hell broke loose. Machines guns fired at Loki from all directions, but the bullets just bounced off of him, not causing any damage what so ever. Loki jumped from the platform and retaliated by attacking the people firing at him. In the blink of an eye, he had taken down several of the guards with knives that he had pulled from nowhere, and more blasts of electric blue energy from his sceptre. He stopped, motionless, and waited to see who would attack him next. Looking around, most of the lab had been destroyed, equipment strewn everywhere, along with many of the disabled guards. Barton tried to stand up from where he had fallen, and Loki quickly walked over to him. He tried to raise his gun, but Loki grabbed his hand before he can do so.

"You have heart," he said, before pointing his spear at Barton's head.

Fury watched in horror out of Loki's eye line as Barton's eyes suddenly went entirely black before it faded until his eyes glowed a startlingly bright blue - the same colour as the gem in Loki's sceptre and the Tesseract itself. Now controlling Barton's mind, Barton put his gun away and stood up straight.

Barton stood there motionless and Loki moved away to take control over the minds of some of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and personnel. Seeing Loki was distracted, Fury quickly removed the Tesseract from the machine and slotted it into its case, before hastily trying to leave the lab. But...

"Please don't," Fury heard Loki say from behind him. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury warned turning around to face Loki and the blank faced Barton.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose," Loki gloated, his smugness obvious in his voice.

"Loki? Brother of Thor?" Selvig asked from where he had been hidden in the pandemonium.

Loki's expression turned ice cold at Selvig's question and Fury spoke up again.

"We have no quarrel with your people," he stated.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki said icily.

"You plan on stepping on us?" Fury asked incredulously.

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free," Loki said.

"Free from what?" Fury asked suspiciously.

"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart..." Loki said before whipping around to face Selvig, who had been standing behind him, and placed his spear over Selvig's heart before he could move away. His eyes glowed black momentarily, before fading to the same bright blue as Barton's. "You will know peace."

"Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing," Fury retorted, stalling for time as up in the chambers vacuum ceiling the energy cloud from the Tesseract was rapidly building up to the point where it would implode.

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling," Barton notified Loki. "This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."

"Like the pharaohs of old," Fury taunted.

"He's right," Selvig confirmed. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. You've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well then..." Loki trailed off, looking at Barton who didn't hesitate to shoot Fury, making him to collapse to the floor.

Barton grabbed the case containing the Tesseract before he, Loki, Selvig and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents under Loki's control left the room.

Reaching the underground car park of the facility Barton, Selvig and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel quickly gathered up certain weapons, as Agent Hill watched Loki in confusion.

"We need those vehicles," Barton said pointing at the agents being controlled by Loki.

"Who's that?" Hill asked, referring to Loki.

"He didn't tell me," Barton said abruptly.

She eyed them suspiciously as they got into the truck, and turned to leave. But as she was walking away from them her walkie talkie crackled to life.

"Hill do you copy?!" Came Fury's voice through the device, making Loki and Barton look over at Hill sharply.

Back at the lab, Fury was sat up, pulling the bullet out of his side, breathing heavily.

"Barton is..."

Hill turned round suddenly to shoot at Barton, but he was already pointing his gun at her and starts shooting. Still shooting at Hill he climbed into the driver's seat of the truck and they drove off, as Hill continued shooting at them.

Fury ran through the lab, clutching his side where he had been shot by Barton. "He's got the Tesseract! Track it down!"

Above the stormy energy clouds churned and thundered, quickly turning into a huge, malevolent storm raging in the chambers vacuum ceiling.

When Barton and Loki drove out into the tunnel, Hill hurriedly slipped into one of the jeeps and sped into the tunnel after Barton. Several other S.H.I.E.L.D. trucks pulled up to the one Barton was driving, which screeched down the tunnel. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents fired at Loki and Barton, who fired back. Stood on top of the truck bed, Loki emitted blasts of energy from the sceptre, making the other S.H.I.E.L.D. trucks flip over. Seeing their trucks get flung out of the way, Hill slowed down slightly, keeping herself at a distance from them.

Fury raced out of the hallway, narrowly avoiding pipes that were falling around him. Hastily, he continued to sprint down the corridor as the facility shook and trembled, caught in the grasp of the earthquake which had erupted from the storm in the laboratory.

Elsewhere in the facility Agent Coulson and several other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents fell down the stairs as the earthquake hit them, dropping the metal briefcases of information they had been carrying when they slipped.

"No! Leave it!" Agent Coulson cried, seeing the other agents reaching to pick up the cases again.

Nodding at Coulson, they turned and fled, fleeing from the destruction the earthquake was causing, the senior agent close on their heels.

Back in the tunnel heading away from Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Agent Hill's jeep roars out at the side of Barton's truck and pulls up alongside them. Pushing ahead of them she yanked on the brakes, spinning her keep around to face Barton and Loki and driving speedily in reverse. Reaching out of the open window, Barton armed his gun before open firing at Hill. Figuring that she had nothing to lose, Agent Hill grabbed her gun and shot back at Barton, shooting through her windscreen in order to return fire.

Outside the facility Agent Coulson jumped into a S.H.I.E.L.D. van that was still parked, talking on his walkie talkie as he did so -

"You're clear, sir! You need to go!" As Director Fury bolted out of the facility at the helicopter pad, and quickly clambered into a waiting helicopter.

But suddenly, before the helicopter could take off, the floor of the helipad buckled and in just in the nick of time the helicopter took off, before the pad collapsed completely, narrowly making an escape.

Locked in a shoot out, Barton and Hill roared down the tunnel before Barton slammed his foot down on the accelerator pedal again, forcing Hill's jeep out of the way as they rocketed past, a blank look on his face and his eyes glowed an eerie blue.

Deep inside the facility, the Tesseract laboratory shimmered with energy that glowed with the same vibrant quality as Barton's eyes, rumbling thunderously as it churned tumultuously, the earthquake continuing all the while. Suddenly the Tesseract's energy cloud shrunk into a small ball of intense white light. For a moment everything froze. The earth stopped its shaking and silence reigned, then all of a sudden the ball of light erupted and a cloud of harsh blue light consumed the entire facility and large parts of the desert it was surrounded by. Watching from above, Fury was helpless to do anything as the cloud rapidly built up, higher and higher, sucking in endless amounts of energy from the surroundings, and several miles away, Agent Coulson's van jolted as the energy wave collided with it head on. Panicked, Fury stared, horrified as the entire facility was swallowed by the Tesseract's energy, then with a startling finality the energy was sucked back in on itself, imploding with a terrifying, unimaginable BOOOOOMMMM!

Still inside the tunnel Agent Hill had no idea what was coming until the returning force of the implosion hit the tunnel, like a tsunami hitting the shore. Hit with a devastating force the tunnel caved in, rock falling on all sides made it impossible to see and Agent Hill's jeep was hit, leaving her nearly trapped under a blanket of rock, although the other keeps that had been tailing them weren't as lucky. Barton's truck, however, escaped the collapsing tunnel and streaked away into the desert where the facility was concealed. Above Fury's helicopter roared over Barton's truck, causing Loki to look up in time to see the helicopter door slide open and Fury appear, shooting at the truck as quickly as he could.

Furious at Fury's constant delaying tactics, he pointed his sceptre at Fury, and loosed a beam of blue light at him in a fit of rage. Grinning maliciously Loki watched as the chopper burst into flames, crashing into the desert sand in a blaze of fire, but his smile faded into a snarl as Fury launches himself out of the chopper just before it collided with the ground, barrelling across the sand before coming to rest in a torrent of flames. Decidedly dazed it took Fury a moment to regain his senses, and on doing so fired at Loki - but it was too late, they were far enough away to no longer be in range of his gun. Looking back, Loki smiled to himself, everything was going to plan, soon this world would be his, and his alone.

Frustrated and shocked, Fury stood there watching them drive away, his mind reeling, then -

"Director?" His walkie talkie crackled to life, and Fury pulled it out of his pocket, dazed with horror, as Agent Coulson's anxious voice echoed from over the line. "Director Fury, do you copy?"

Holding down the receiver, Fury spoke into it flatly. "The Tesseract is with the hostile force. I have men down. Hill?"

Back inside the collapsed tunnel Agent Hill painstakingly dragged herself out of the window of her jeep, noting the way that it had been sandwiched in by the falling rock, grateful that she could get out.

"A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors," she replied weakly, assessing the damage caused by the cave in quickly.

"Sound the general call," Fury barked, his usual brisk manner returning despite the chaos Loki and the Tesseract wreaked. "I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that brief case."

"Roger that."

"Coulson, get back to the base," Fury commanded before steeling himself to what he knew was happening, despite the dread that was welling up inside him. "This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war."

There was a moment of silence before Coulson replied.

"What do we do?" Coulson asked, sounding unsure despite his usually infallible demeanour.

Fury stood there, a look of intense concentration on his face as he contemplated what had just occurred. Then he looked up, a glimmer of hope in his expression, and in his head thought the one thing that would begin it all.

Avengers, Assemble!

 **Authors note**

 **Hey guys, I'm back! I know this probably wasn't what you were expecting, but you know how it is when you get inspiration at three o'clock in the morning - you can't ignore it. So this is the beginning of a new story I'm writing, though my first thoughts aren't in it until the next chapter. I hope you like it, and please review, either good or bad, share your opinions with me.**

 **Thanks, cloudyazurephoenix**

 **Also, did anyone spot the Doctor Who reference I slipped in?**


	3. Chapter 2 - Summoning the troops

**Here it is, my second chapter, I must say I'm so excited about this story, it is my favourite to write out of all of them! This is up really quickly as well, I only published the first chapter last week, and it was 16 pages on Microsoft Word in size 12. On that note I hope you enjoy it, here it is after the disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognisable (sadly, though I would love to)**

 **Review please!**

 **Chapter 2 - Summoning the troops**

It was night time at the Solenski Plaza in Russia and out in the outskirts of the plaza, on the third floor of a building still under construction, Natasha Romanoff was in the middle of an interrogation. She was getting everything she wanted from her target, only not in the way you'd expect. Tied to a chair, and dangerously close to the edge of the metal floor, she was backhanded across the face by a tall thug that was under the employ of Georgi Luchkov, a large Russian general, along with another that looked rather like a weasel. Flinching internally, she didn't let any sign of pain show on her face, despite the brutality of the blow, as smiling, Luchkov walks up to her.

"This is not how I wanted the evening to go," Luchkov stated, conversing in Russian.

"I know how you wanted this evening to go," Natasha snidely retorted, her face set in a stern blandness. "Believe me, this is better."

"I'd like to know why they sent you to carry out a carrier, a stained glass and other random items," Luchkov inquired.

Nodding at the tall thug that had struck her before, Luchkov's minion rocked the chair she was tied to on to its back legs, so that she was balancing precariously on the edge of the floor, which dropped over into nothing behind her.

"I thought General Solohob was in charge of the export business," Natasha quickly said, with a look of fright on her face and a vague tone of panic in her voice.

"Solohob?" Luchkov replied, amusement clear in his tone. "Your reputation is quite a progression. The famous Black Widow. Nothing but a pretty face."

"You really think I'm pretty?" Natasha queried, knowing full well that she looked fantastic, and could use her looks to accomplish her missions.

Ignoring her Luchkov slowly walked over to a table filled with tools, eyeing them for a moment before picking up a pair of pliers. Behind him, the tall thug forcefully wrenched Natasha's mouth open, holding it open as Luchkov turned back around and stalked towards them.

"We do not need the Lermontov to transfer the tanks. Tell him, well..." He paused before switching to English, continuing to talk in the same menacing tone he had been using since picking up the pliers. "You may have to write it down."

Suddenly the weasel like thugs mobile phone rang, and thoroughly confused, he answered it.

"Ya?" He looked at Luchkov in confusion. "It's for you."

Luchkov snatched the phone from the man, annoyed at the interruption to 'his' interrogation and put it to his ear.

"Who the hell is this?" He demanded angrily.

"You're at 114 Solenski Plaza, third floor." Agent Coulson calmly stated from the other end of the line. "We have an F22 exactly eight miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby."

With a completely shocked expression Luchkov complied, putting the phone by Natasha's ear so she could grip it between her shoulder and ear as her hands were tied together round the back of the chair she was tied to.

"We need you to come in," Coulson told her.

"Are you kidding?" She demanded, faintly annoyed at the interruption. "I'm working!"

"This takes precedence," Phil insisted.

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation and this moron is giving me everything," she frowned.

"I don't give anything," Luchkov says confused, surely it was the other way round, it was him interrogating her not the other way around. Wasn't it?

However on seeing the look she was giving him though, he promptly shut up.

"Look, you can't pull me out of this right now," Natasha insisted.

Coulson paused before making up his mind. Resolute, he told her the one thing he knew was guaranteed to sway her decision. "Natasha. Barton's been compromised."

Natasha froze, inwardly shocked and horrified by the thought that Clint had been captured, or injured or was even - No. She couldn't even think about it. Eyeing Luchkov and his henchmen she paused before her mind was made up, Clint was far more important than any mission, no matter how great it's supposed importance.

"Let me put you on hold."

Natasha nodded to Luchkov to indicate that he should take the phone from her, but as he came to take it off her, she hit him with her leg before head butting him. Then like a spider, she stood up elegantly attacked the tall thug, kickboxing him in the face and then tripped his rodent friend over. Still tied to the chair, she rolled over the weasel like thug and then proceeded to slam the chair leg on the tall thugs foot and temporarily stunned him by whipping her head backwards and cracking him in the face.

Meanwhile on the other side of the line, Phil waited patiently as Natasha took them out, bobbing his head from side to side.

Flipping herself over, Natasha smashed into the weaselly thug, breaking the chair she was still tied to into pieces and making him pass out. Seeing the tall thug stand up, Natasha ran at him, drop kicking him. After falling down, she used the momentum of the fall to push herself right back up and wrap her legs around his neck, dragging him down so he lost consciousness on impact with the dense metal floor. Stalking towards Luchkov, she grabbed a hold of him and wrapped a hanging chain around his leg and pushed him over the edge of the floor so he was dangling upside down in mid air. Then casually she picked the phone up off the floor where it had been dropped during the chaos, and then stooped down to grab her pair of black heels as well and swaggered away.

"Where's Barton now?" Natasha asked.

"We don't know," Phil replied, shaking his head slightly.

"But he's alive," she questioned.

"We think so. I'll brief you on everything when you get back," Phil told her, steeling himself to tell her something he knew she wouldn't be best pleased about. "But first, we need you to talk to the big guy."

"Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me," Natasha said, misinterpreting what Coulson had said to her.

"No, I've got Stark," Phil corrected her, hoping he wouldn't have to spell it out to her. "You get the big guy."

A brief look of fear showed on her face when she realised exactly what Coulson had meant. Not Stark, the BIG guy. "Bozhe moi."

Far from the extremities of Russia a little girl ran through a crowd, trying to force a way through the slums of Calcutta, an Indian village where sickness was spreading rapidly. The little girl ran out of the crowd to a tiny shack and ran up the stairs, desperate to get inside, only to be stopped by an attending woman.

"What are you doing here?! Get out! You shouldn't be her!" She shouted in her native tongue.

"I have to see the doctor! It's my father!" The little girl rambles back, spotting the local doctor Bruce Banner coming up to them.

"Calm down," he soothed. "What's wrong?"

"My father," she said weakly, staring at something behind the doctor.

Turning to look at what she was staring at, a brief look of understanding and pity came on to his face. Behind him a number of people were all laying down, looking very sick.

"Is he like them!" Bruce gently questioned, pointing at the ill people behind him.

The little girl held out all the money she had in the world out to him, looking up at him with tears in her eyes and quietly begged, "please."

Nodding, Bruce quickly ushered the little girl out of the shack, following closely behind her as they hastily dashed through the darkness of the night covered slums to the edge of town, where a lone shack was stood. The little girl pulled away from him, hurrying towards the little shack that was her home. Spotting a local government car, Bruce's brow furrowed in slight confusion before he quickly headed in to the shack the little girl had just ran into. As Bruce entered the shack he stopped, startled as he watched the little girl climb out of the far window and ran away. Bruce let out a sigh as he realised that he had been tricked, lured into coming out to the outskirts of the town he was living in. He should've known from the minute he saw that government car, they don't just come to a place like the slums of Calcutta for no particular reason!

"Should've got paid up front, Banner," he mumbled, shaking his head at his own foolishness.

Then as Bruce stood there kicking himself a familiar figure slipped into the room from behind a curtain. Sensing that there was someone behind him, Bruce slowly turned around to see an intimidating woman with curls the colour of fire watching him.

"You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle," the woman said as Bruce stared at her in apprehension.

"Avoiding the stress isn't the secret," he told her mysteriously, not letting on what the real secret was.

"Then what is it?" She questioned, trying to figure him out. "Yoga?"

"You brought me to the edge of the city, smart," Bruce said nervously, but with a hint of both admiration and trepidation lingering in his tone. "I uh... assume the whole place is surrounded."

"Just you and me," the strange woman told him calmly.

"And your actress buddy, is she a spy too?" He questioned, wondering whether he would like the answer she would give him. "Do they start that young?"

"I did," she said plainly, a neutral expression on her face as she watched the doctor frown slightly in confusion.

"Who are you?" He finally asked.

"Natasha Romanoff," the woman answered, finally giving him a name to put to her face.

"Are you here to kill me, Miss Romanoff?" Bruce inquired, in a slightly menacing tone as he stared her down. "Because that's not gonna work out for everyone."

"No, no. Of course not," Romanoff placated, shaking her head faintly in a further attempt to calm him. "I'm here on the behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D."

However, it seemed to have the exact opposite affect as Bruce's hackles rose even more at her statement. "S.H.I.E.L.D. How did they find me?"

"We never lost you, doctor," Natasha told him, which didn't exactly comfort him. "We've kept our distance, even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent."

"Why?" Bruce demanded disbelievingly.

He didn't believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. was just going to leave him be after what happened at Culver. He didn't believe that they were alone either - surely there were other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents just waiting to strike somewhere he couldn't see them. In roofing over everything that had happened his heart strings twanged at the thought of Betty and everything he had lost. All because of his mistakes, mistakes that had cost him so much, and turned him into a monster. No, he didn't believe it for a second.

"Nick Fury seems to trust you," she stated, giving no inkling of her scepticism about Fury's decision to bring Dr Banner to work on the case. "But now I need you to come in."

"What if I said no?" Bruce asked her, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"I'll persuade you," Natasha said flirtatiously, smirking slightly at surprised expression.

"And what if the... other guy says no?" Bruce said hesitantly, nervously anticipating her response.

"You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you want to break that streak," Natasha assumed, hoping her mental deductions of the good doctor would prove to be correct.

"I don't always get what I want," Bruce replied looking at her intensely, and a faint ripple of fear ran down her spine.

"Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe," Natasha said, revealing the reason why she was in Calcutta.

"Well those I actively try to avoid," Bruce quipped.

"This is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet," Natasha told him ominously, the same neutral expression still on her face.

Natasha reached into her pocket and showed Bruce a photo of the Tesseract on her phone, and Bruce moved nearer to her to take a closer look at the glowing cube.

"What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?" Bruce asked sarcastically.

"Well, he wants you to find it. It's been taken," Natasha grudgingly admitted. "It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one who knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be."

Bruce stared at her suspiciously at her reluctant admittance that she would rather be anywhere but near him - or at least, that was what he assumed she had meant. "So Fury isn't after the monster?"

"Not that he's told me."

"And he tells you everything?" Bruce questioned, severely doubting that he did, the red head may be a spy but her boss was the king of them.

"Talk to Fury," Natasha insisted. "He needs you on this."

"He needs me in a cage?"

"No one's gonna put you in a -"

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Bruce thundered, slamming his hands down on the table that had been between them, the threatening tone of his voice throwing Natasha into action.

With lightning fast reflexes, Natasha quickly grabbed her gun and pointed it at him as he loomed over the table. But there was something wrong about the atmosphere in the tiny room and Natasha stayed where she was, a wary look in her eyes as Bruce stood up straight, smiling crookedly.

"I'm sorry, that was mean," Bruce admitted, chuckling softly at her expression. "I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't fire that, and the other guy doesn't make a mess? Okay? Natasha..."

But Natasha remained pointing her gun at him, wary removing her defence. Then after a moment she slowly lowered her gun and put a hand to her ear, talking into an earpiece that had been concealed behind her deep red curls.

"Stand down. We're good here." And outside the shack dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents moved away from where they had been surrounding the shack.

"Just you and me?" Bruce said amused, raising an eyebrow and giving a knowing smile - he hadn't believed her when she had said that they were alone, and now he had been proved right.

Natasha fidgeted now that she had exposed the other agents and let her guard down, and Bruce continued to smile at her in that knowing way.

Back in the United States Nick Fury was facing several large monitors as he had a conference with the members of the World Security Council in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Analytical Room.

"This is out of line Director," said the first World Security Council member, staring directly at Fury. "You're dealing with forces you can't control."

" You ever been in a war, Councilman?" Fury asked impatiently, already knowing the answer. "In a fire fight? Did you feel an over abundance of control?"

"You're saying that this Asgard has declared war on our planet?" The same man questioned.

"Not Asgard," Fury clarified, keeping his opinions about the idiots on the World Security Council to himself. "Loki."

"He can't be working alone," the World Security Council member pondered. "What about the other one? His brother."

"Our intelligence says, Thor is not a hostile. But he's worlds away, we cannot depend on him to help. It's up to us," Fury explained ominously.

"Which is why we should be focusing on Phase 2," the man said heatedly. "It was designed exactly -"

"Phase 2 isn't ready," Fury butted in, cutting the arrogant man off. "Our enemy is. We need a response team."

"The Avengers Initiative was shut down," he said bluntly.

"The isn't about the Avengers," Fury said wearily, slowly losing his patience with the arrogant man.

"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks!" The man exclaimed in disbelief about what Fury was choosing to do.

"I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team," Fury stressed, growing frustrated by the World Security Council's obstinacy lack of vision. "These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need."

"You believe?" The second World Security Council member, not impressed with what Fury thought.

"War isn't won by sentiment, Director," the first added snidely.

"No," Fury said firmly. "It's won by soldiers."

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn Steve Rogers was pummelling a punching bag in an almost World War 2 style boxing gym. The first Avenger was swinging at the punching bag with such fierce blows that it was as if he was trying to stave away and repress memories with each punch.

...

Sucked into his memories, he remembered that final day, when he defeated the Red Skull and had had to make an emergency landing - in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He was running through the forest surrounding the main Hydra base in Germany, dodging mortars, gunfire and the Tesseract's energy blasts.

"There's not enough time! I gotta put her in the water!" Steve cried over the radio from the plane, upset and afraid, but knowing he had to do it to keep his home safe.

...

Steve's rage continued to build as he hammered the bag, getting harder and harder.

...

Back inside the Red Skull's ship Steve placed his compass containing a picture of Peggy in front of him, open so he could see the photo of her inside it. The time for him to crash the plane had arrived, he couldn't delay it any longer.

...

Lost in his memories Steve closed his eyes, going at the punching bag even more, his blows landing with an ever increasing force.

...

"You won't be alone," he heard Peggy say faintly.

...

The Red Skull picked up the Tesseract, holding it aloft to stare at it greedily.

...

Steve opened his eyes, tears of frustration welling up in his baby blues, and went at the bag with everything he had as the last memory kicked in, not even noticing when the bag started to tear, unable to stop himself as got lost in the memory.

...

"Oh my god!" A S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist cried, not believing that it could possibly be real, despite the clear evidence in front of his eyes.

In front of him a half frozen Steve Rogers was laying down on a medical slab. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists ran over to the high tech devices S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided, giving each other looks of disbelief at the readings that they were getting about his vitals. And it seems...

"This guy is alive!"

...

Steve's punches got so vicious that with one final swing the bag tore open and flew off of its chain, the sand it contained spiking out across the floor. He stood there, breathing hard as he released 70 years worth of repressed emotion, after all he had gone down at the end of World War 2 and had woken back up in New York in 2012, trapped in a time where everything had changed. After taking a few breathers, Steve picked up another punching bag, which was laying at the side of the room with another dozen or so others. He hooked the bag up and resumed punching again, only this time not nearly as violently. Behind him, Director Fury walked through the open doorway.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fury called out to him.

"I slept for seventy years, sir," he said bitterly, thinking of everything that he had lost and missed. "I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world," Fury suggested.

At Fury's suggestions Steve stopped punching the bag and walked over to the bench on the far side of the room, unraveling the tape that had been wound around his hands as he sat down.

"I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, they say we won," Steve said intently, staring at Fury imploringly. "They didn't say what we lost."

"We've made some mistakes along the way," Fury said wearily. "Some very recently."

"You here with a mission, sir?" Steve asked.

"I am."

"Trying to get me back into the world?" Steve queried, eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"Trying to save it," Fury told him, making Steve shoot him a sharp look, before he handed him a folder on the Tesseract, along with other files on Hydra's projects.

"Hydra's secret weapon," Steve muttered darkly as he opened the first file and saw a photograph of the Tesseract.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you," Fury explained, nodding at the picture. "He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it from you?" Steve asked in shock as he noticed where the file said that the Tesseract had been stolen.

"He's called Loki. He's not from around here," Fury admitted. "There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me," Steve said dubiously, already overwhelmed by everything he had found out.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong," Fury challenged, smirking as he thought the things that had happened in recent years. From Stark's metal suits, to Doctor Banner's accident, from Miss Potter and her world, to the revelation of the existence of Asgard and the other nine realms. Yeah, he doubted that nothing could surprise Rogers.

"There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment," Fury continued watching as Steve turned and picked up a punching bag before starting to walk out of the gym.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury asked before Steve could leave the room.

"You should have left it in the ocean," Steve stated ominously without looking back as he walked out.

Out over the Atlantic Ocean Tony Stark was hovering in his Iron Man suit, cutting a pipeline transport with a laser cutter that came from his gauntlet. Removing the pipe, he replaced it with a Stark energy reactor which lit up as he pushed it in. Finished with his task he rocketed out over the water and flew back towards Stark Tower in the middle of New York.

"You're good on this end," Tony said. "The rest is up to you."

On the other end of the line the CEO of Stark Industries, (and Tony's girlfriend) Pepper Potts responded, checking to make sure that it was actually finished. "You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?"

Inside of the suit, Pepper appeared on the holographic monitor in front of his eyes.

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy," Tony confirmed with a smirk.

"Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over and it actually works?" Pepper asked, impressed but trying to conceal it.

"I assume," Tony said confidently. "Light her up."

As Iron Man drew closer to the Stark Tower building, the power switched on and the Stark sign lit up, shining so intensely that it drew the attention of people all over New York, as it was too bright to miss.

"How does it look?" Pepper breathed excitedly.

"Like Christmas," Tony said arrogantly. "But with more... me."

Rolling her eyes Pepper responded, immediately reeling off what she had to do now that the building was competed.

"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press," Pepper rambled, not stopping for breath as she related information. "I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards."

"Pepper, you're killing me," Tony deadpanned. "Remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Then get in here and I will," Pepper said coyly.

Just as Tony landed at the top of the tower, Jarvis spoke up, his programmed British accent obvious, as the Iron Man suit was removed by a series of high tech gadgets.

"Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the line."

"I'm not in," Tony quipped. "I'm actually out."

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Close the line Jarvis," Tony dismissed as he walked through the glass doors into his skyscraper penthouse. "I've got a date."

Inside the penthouse Pepper was staring up at the monitors showing the reactor device that Tony had just inserted into the pipeline.

"Levels are holding steady... I think," Pepper said, chewing uncertainly on the inside of her lip.

"Of course they are, I was directly involved," Tony said, smirking smugly at her. "Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?"

"Well, ha, I wouldn't really know now, would I?" Pepper told him, eyeing Tony who was now standing behind her.

"What do you mean? All this came from you," Tony asked, staring at Pepper in return.

"No. All this came from that," Pepper stated bluntly, pointing at the ark reactor imbedded in his chest as it glowed through his t-shirt.

"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby," Tony deflected, causing Pepper to smile for a moment before it fell again with Tony's next comment. "Give yourself... twelve percent of the credit."

"Twelve percent?" Pepper said, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"An argument can be made for fifteen," Tony said quickly, eyes widening as he realised that he probably should have just stuck with saying that it was her baby.

"Twelve percent?" Pepper continued, revelling in the way she was making Tony uncomfortable at that moment. "For my baby?"

"Well I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things," Tony blurted, trying almost desperately to make up for his previous statement. "And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."

"Oooooh," Pepper muttered, unimpressed by his attempts to rationalise what he had said.

"My private elevator," Tony rambled.

"You mean OUR elevator?" Pepper said, now with a particularly unimpressed look on her face.

"... was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?" Tony cringed, seeing the look on her face as she poured them both a glass of champagne.

"Not gonna be that subtle," Pepper responded, handing him a glass.

"I'll tell you what," Tony said. "Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower."

"On the lease," Pepper said, staring him in the eye, eyebrows raised, daring him to say no.

Tony paused for a minute, before changing the subject. "... Call your mom, can you bunk over?"

But before Pepper could answer his sarcastic comment, Jarvis chimed up again.

"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."

"Stark, we need to talk," Phil said plainly, and Tony picked up his phone, looking at the screen where the live feed of Coulson could be seen.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message," Tony said monotonously, really not wanting to talk to the agent at the moment.

"This is urgent," Phil insisted.

"Then leave it urgently," Tony quipped, before the elevator doors opened and Agent Coulson stepped into the penthouse.

"Security breach," Tony joked, before turning to Pepper. "That's on you."

"Mr Stark," Phil said to Tony, but it was Pepper who answered.

"Phil! Come in," Pepper said cheerily as she walked over to him, still clutching her glass of champagne.

"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent," Tony stated, following her over to where Coulson was stood by the lift.

Pepper ignored him and continued talking to Phil. "Come on in, we're celebrating."

"Which is why he can't stay," Tony broke in.

"We need you to look this over," Phil said, holding a folder out towards Tony. "Soon as possible."

"I don't like being handed things," Tony said bluntly, not taking the folder from him.

"That's alright, cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade," Pepper said pleasantly, passing her champagne to Phil to hold as she took the folder from him, then took her glass back and handed the folder to Tony.

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she looked at Tony's unimpressed face.

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," Tony reminded Phil, his tone indicating that he should already know this.

"This isn't a consultation," Phil said sternly.

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked curiously. "Which I... I know nothing about."

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought," Tony said frowning. "And I didn't even qualify."

"I didn't know that either," Pepper said sheepishly.

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed and don't play well with others," Tony finished.

"That I did know," Pepper muttered, smirking to herself.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Phil told him calmly.

"Whatever," Tony replied, completely uninterested by Phil's veiled pleas. "Miss Potts, got a minute?"

Pepper walked up to Tony, who was placing the file into his own system so as to look at it easier.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment," he said.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment," Pepper quipped, before growing serious. "This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken."

"How did you notice," Tony asked with a frown, before continuing with a jealous undertone in his voice. "Why is he Phil?"

"What is all of this?" Pepper wondered, ignoring his questioning glance as she stared down at the folder.

"This is, uh..." Tony trailed off, before expanding his arms over his software, and different holographic profiles appeared, floating in the air in front of them. "This."

Simultaneously a number of videos played as Tony and Pepper looked on in awe: Captain America in action; the Hulk roaring as he attacked the army at Culver University; some really buff guy in a cape fighting a robot; Natasha and some S.H.I.E.L.D. agent sparring; one of Loki and the Tesseract; and something that really puzzled him - a teenager shooting random jets of light at some guys in black with a stick?

Tony looked on, not understanding what he was seeing in some of the videos until Pepper spoke up. "I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight."

"Tomorrow," Tony instantly fired back at her, looking down at her sharply.

"You've got homework," Pepper reminded him, nodding at the holographic screens floating around them. "You've got a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?" Tony wondered.

"If you didn't?"

"Yeah."

"You mean if you finished?" She asked, replying when Tony nodded his head. "Well, um... then..."

Pepper trailed off, thinking, before whispering something in his ear. Tony gasped in surprise, his eyes widening slightly and Phil looked away in embarrassment.

"Square deal. It's the last date," Tony said quickly, and Pepper smiled, leaning up to kiss him.

"Work hard," Pepper said, shooting him a stern look that was tinged with amusement.

Turning away from him, Pepper left the penthouse with Phil as Tony grabbed a hold of the Tesseract in holographic form, worried for once about what the future might hold. #

Scarlet Potter was not having a good day. Not only had she been hounded by reporters from the Daily Prophet when she had tried to browse in Flourish and Blotts, despite her insistence that they leave her alone, but now there was a stranger in a black, leather trench coat and an eye patch standing in the middle of her apartment telling her that she had been drafted for something called the "Avengers Initiative". What?

She just couldn't get a break could she? It had been a two years since the Battle of Hogwarts and Voldemort's defeat, but she hadn't stopped since. Whether it was repair work at Hogwarts; being hounded by reporters; dinners with the ever expanding Weasley family; or being called in for various reasons at the Ministry. She simply hadn't had barely any time to herself - and it was almost driving her to distraction. Things had finally been dying down, but now there was a stranger in her apartment, and she had no idea how he had gotten inside, as she didn't have a fireplace and her anti-apparition wards were still intact.

"No offence, but who the hell are you?" She asked impatiently staring at the man, her wand raised in defence, (after all, you never know - she might need it).

"You can put your wand down, Miss Potter," Mr Stranger drawled, his only visible eyebrow raised at her. Yes, she knew it sounded odd her calling him Mr Stranger (even if it is only in her head), but she was going to call him that for now as he was still avoiding her question. "I'm not planning on attacking you."

Scarlet narrowed her eyes at him slightly, but kept her wand pointed directly at him.

Mr Stranger sighed when he saw that she hadn't moved an inch except to grip her wand tighter in her hand. "I'm Director Fury. I work for the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"Isn't that a bit long?" Scarlet said, her curiosity getting the better of her. Tilting her head to one side, she quirked an eyebrow at the Director. "Do you realise that it forms the acronym S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Fury said nothing, staring at her with his one good eye and as her thoughts wandered, she found herself wondering whether he had lost his eye, or if the eyepatch was merely for decoration.

When he continued to say nothing, she asked tentatively, "What is S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway?"

Fury thought for a moment before answering.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. was created at the end of the Second World War, as a form of... protection. Sometimes to protect one man from himself, other times from terrorists that threaten life as we know it."

"Okay," she said, nodding slowly. "But what has that got to do with me?"

Scarlet listened in disbelief as Fury answered her question in a rather roundabout way.

"In recent years we have had to deal with all kinds of things - whether it was mutants, demigods or extraterrestrials. Or for you, the threat of a certain bastard, Lord Voldemort. Miss Potter, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been monitoring the Wizarding World for a long time now. There are a number of witches and wizards that are excellent S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in their own rights, and we have had contacts in your world for years. But now Miss Potter, your world needs you again, as does the rest of the world - whether they know it or not."

"What do you mean?" Scarlet asked, her brow furrowing in confusion and slight worry.

Fury reached into the inside of his coat and pulled out a tablet. He tapped on the screen for a moment as she watched him worriedly, before a hologram lit up above the screen, making her eyes widen in surprise. A blue cube was hovering above the tablet, and they both stared at it for a moment before Fury held out the tablet to her, and she gingerly took it, holding it slightly awkwardly in her hands. She still wasn't very used to technology as the Wizarding World still seemed to be stuck in the Middle Ages, and she didn't spend much time in the Muggle world.

Seeing her questioning look, Fury spoke up again. "This is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet. It was recovered from the bottom of the ocean by Howard Stark when he was fishing for Captain America."

Scarlet blinked rapidly as she attempted to absorb the shocking truths that Fury had just told her, watching the other videos that were running simultaneously on the screen. Iron Man blasting a series of robots; Captain America disabling a number of enemy soldiers; the Hulk attacking the army at Culver University; some footage of Thor battling the Destroyer in New Mexico; and the Black Widow and Hawkeye training together. There was also a video of her there - though she had no idea how S.H.I.E.L.D. had gotten footage of her duelling.

"Okay," she said slowly. "But I still don't see what this has got to do with me."

"It has been stolen from us, by someone called Loki," Fury said.

At this Scarlet looked up sharply. "Loki? As in brother of Thor, god of lies, Loki?"

"Yes," Fury dead panned. "It was stolen from us last night, and we need you to help us get it back."

Fury walked over to where she was stood and pulled up a video of Loki's attack on the New Mexico research facility. Scarlet watched in disbelief as he hypnotised Barton and Selvig, and destroyed the facility before walking out with the Tesseract and two new minions.

Scarlet blinked slowly before looking back up at Fury who was stood watching her intensely.

"How on earth am I supposed to get the Tesseract back from someone who uses mind control, as well as powers of his own, and is now the puppet master for one of your best agents?" Scarlet demanded incredulously, eyes wide and eyebrow raised.

"Well you won't be doing it by yourself," Fury answered simply. "The world is in peril, you are needed again, Miss Potter. I need to know, are you willing to help?"

Scarlet spun around on the spot, gnawing on her lip as she stared down at the tablet she was still holding. Her mind racing, she considered what Fury had said. She knew that she had defeated Voldemort, but could she do something like this? This was so much bigger... Yes, she had to, she couldn't allow people to suffer and just step back and do nothing about it. Resolute, she spun round to face Fury again, determination set in her expression.

"I'll do it."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys, the second chapter of my story is up, and Scarlet has finally made an appearance. What do you think?**

 **Kay, first things first. I wanted to say thank you all for reading this and adding it to your alerts, I've never gotten so many emails about one of my stories so quickly! I also wanted to give a special shout out to my reviewers for the first chapter:**

 **Rin-s666**

 **candinaru25**

 **Karakot**

 **An anonymous guest reviewer**

 **ptl4ever419**

 **NicoleR85**

 **Shellzbells24**

 **Charlie0925**

 **Karakot: the Doctor Who reference was right at the start of the chapter, 'no light, no dark, no up, no down'. It's from Season 2, episode 12 - Army of Ghosts, when Ten is explaining the void to Yvonne and Rajesh in the sphere room.**

 **NicoleR85: I will be changing some things in the Marvel timeline, but as to what, you'll just have to wait and see! ;)**

 **Shellzbells24: Don't worry, I am planning on pairing Scarlet with someone, but I'm not revealing who just yet!**

 **I'd like to think that I'll get the next chapter up soon, but to be honest I don't know when it will be, as I'm trying to slot writing in around studying for my A-Levels.**

 **Until next time!**

 **\- cloudyazurephoenix**


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